Lagos to establish ADR court

The Lagos State government is soon to establish a Court of Arbitration to promote Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR).

The state Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Ade Ipaye who made this known, said the government is very serious about ADR and that this explained why it came up with one of the most modern arbitration legislation in the country.

According to him, the Office of the Public Defender (OPD), Citizens Mediation Centre (CMC) , Public Advice Centre (PAC) , Consumer Rights Unit (CRU), among others, are all geared towards human rights protection and enforcement.

The commissioner disclosed that over 18,000 cases came up for mediation at CMC in 2012 adding that the Multidoor Courthouse also achieved a lot during the last Settlement Week .

“Making their services free means that even the poor and the vulnerable are given access to justice. All our vocational centres are concrete institutions for the realisation of rights. People are given the opportunity of learning a trade and living a productive live.

“Our free health screening, immunisation and health care programmes are also very relevant. The right to live must be interpreted to mean the right to live a healthy life.

“So also are our programmes on the environment. Even where we clear illegal developments and take the hard decision to displace people sometimes, it is so that the great majority might have a functional drainage or a clean environment; or so that the displaced people would not unnecessarily endanger themselves. If you look at all these efforts and institutions like our Office of Disability, Child Rights Centre, you will fully realise that this government is doing so much for human rights”, he said.

Ipaye said the state has done wonderfully well in the area of administration of justice ion the last one year adding “crimes do happen, but the important thing is that they are being detected and the criminals are being prosecuted.

“At the moment, about 650 prosecution cases are being handled by the Ministry in various courts. In addition to that, a lot of cases are prosecuted daily by the Police at the Magistrate courts. 753 reports of various investigations reached us for legal advice in 2012 and we have exceeded the 70 per cent mark in dealing with those” , he said.

The commissioner said the state government, will be stepping up its prosecution capacity in order to ensure Lagosians that criminals will not go unpunished.